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mozillameister
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Background Checks - Bad Credit...do they care? 28 Nov 2017, 12:30
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So, I recently stumbled upon a thread that talks about school background checks. States they check salary, school record, and recommenders, They also mentioned a credit check.

Now my credit isn't terrible (upper 600s) but it could be higher if I wasn't such a stubborn idiot. Essentially, I have a credit card that I paid off but has a forever remaining balance due to posted fees and interest I refuse to pay. I autoenrolled paid on time, but my bank f*ed up and literally never posted a payment for 2 months. They apologized after the fact citing a glitch, but I had a chunk of fees and interest, Even after speakiong to the credit card company and showing the letter from the bank stating its their fault, the CC refused to drop any of it. So I paid it of minus fees and interest. It's been 3 years now and I'm constantly being charged by them. Also have a bunch of parking tickets but that's the New Yorker life.

So...is this something that will affect my entrance into B school? Or is this so inconsequential no one will give a sh*t?
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Background Checks - Bad Credit...do they care? 28 Nov 2017, 14:24
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mozillameister
So, I recently stumbled upon a thread that talks about school background checks. States they check salary, school record, and recommenders, They also mentioned a credit check.
Some schools may care more than others- but I wouldn't lose sleep on this. I would say the most important piece of the background check is making sure you worked where you said you did WHEN you said you did... but that being said one can never know for sure- but you can't control this- so don't worry too much. Focus on getting IN- and that usually carries through to good news all the way through! But do pay those parking tickets!! Don't let something like that drag you down and do keep working on fixing the credit situation as that will help you in all kinds of other ways regardless of MBA!
Now my credit isn't terrible (upper 600s) but it could be higher if I wasn't such a stubborn idiot. Essentially, I have a credit card that I paid off but has a forever remaining balance due to posted fees and interest I refuse to pay. I autoenrolled paid on time, but my bank f*ed up and literally never posted a payment for 2 months. They apologized after the fact citing a glitch, but I had a chunk of fees and interest, Even after speakiong to the credit card company and showing the letter from the bank stating its their fault, the CC refused to drop any of it. So I paid it of minus fees and interest. It's been 3 years now and I'm constantly being charged by them. Also have a bunch of parking tickets but that's the New Yorker life.

So...is this something that will affect my entrance into B school? Or is this so inconsequential no one will give a sh*t?
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Background Checks - Bad Credit...do they care? 28 Nov 2017, 14:40
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mozillameister
So, I recently stumbled upon a thread that talks about school background checks. States they check salary, school record, and recommenders, They also mentioned a credit check.

Now my credit isn't terrible (upper 600s) but it could be higher if I wasn't such a stubborn idiot. Essentially, I have a credit card that I paid off but has a forever remaining balance due to posted fees and interest I refuse to pay. I autoenrolled paid on time, but my bank f*ed up and literally never posted a payment for 2 months. They apologized after the fact citing a glitch, but I had a chunk of fees and interest, Even after speakiong to the credit card company and showing the letter from the bank stating its their fault, the CC refused to drop any of it. So I paid it of minus fees and interest. It's been 3 years now and I'm constantly being charged by them. Also have a bunch of parking tickets but that's the New Yorker life.

So...is this something that will affect my entrance into B school? Or is this so inconsequential no one will give a sh*t?
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No this will not impact your B school applications. Background checks are performed after you are accepted and are designed to make sure everything you wrote on the application is accurate. Your credit, while bad to be low for any mortgage you may get, is not relevant here. Don't worry about it!

Best,
Scott
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Background Checks - Bad Credit...do they care? 28 Nov 2017, 17:06
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mozillameister
So, I recently stumbled upon a thread that talks about school background checks. States they check salary, school record, and recommenders, They also mentioned a credit check.

Now my credit isn't terrible (upper 600s) but it could be higher if I wasn't such a stubborn idiot. Essentially, I have a credit card that I paid off but has a forever remaining balance due to posted fees and interest I refuse to pay. I autoenrolled paid on time, but my bank f*ed up and literally never posted a payment for 2 months. They apologized after the fact citing a glitch, but I had a chunk of fees and interest, Even after speakiong to the credit card company and showing the letter from the bank stating its their fault, the CC refused to drop any of it. So I paid it of minus fees and interest. It's been 3 years now and I'm constantly being charged by them. Also have a bunch of parking tickets but that's the New Yorker life.

So...is this something that will affect my entrance into B school? Or is this so inconsequential no one will give a sh*t?

No this will not impact your B school applications. Background checks are performed after you are accepted and are designed to make sure everything you wrote on the application is accurate. Your credit, while bad to be low for any mortgage you may get, is not relevant here. Don't worry about it!

Best,
Scott
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That's what I figured. I think it's 3 years (so very soon) for them to finally cull the payments and send the hounds (ie: collections), and then eventually it's erased through time. I've been making concurrent payments on my other CC for far longer so it'll rise up by the time I graduate and worry about mortgages and such.

I was just worried they would use silly things like that to see what kind of 'character' I have (or parking tickets/speeding tickets). That would be uber intrusive. As long as the background check is just used to verify on a high level who I am and not try to drill on who I am, then I'm cool with that.